The future of tolls
President Trump is back to talking about his big, beautiful infrastructure plan (arguably what he could have been talking about for the last few months, if not for his undisciplined tweeting) and naturally some Massachusetts politicians see this is as an opportunity to begin squeezing drivers at the local level.
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Trump made a pitch for his $1 trillion infrastructure plan, which remains painfully light on details.
But that isn’t stopping lawmakers here from laying the groundwork for new tolls all around the state, if and when they’re granted more flexibility to pursue them.
Rep. Brian Murray (D-Milford) and Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) have filed bills that would allow the state to erect electronic toll gantries on highways beyond the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn) is calling for a plan to implement a “comprehensive system of tolling and travel” on highways including Interstates 93 and 95 and state highways including Route 2.
And in another nutty bill that would allow the state to slap drivers with a new “green fee” — by tracking individual drivers
by name, the cars they drive and their mileage — Rep. Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford) also proposes to impose new tolls on large commercial trucks.
Now, there has for years been resistance to erecting new tolls in Massachusetts, both because of the expense associated with collecting them and federal limits on putting up new tolls on existing highways. The first obstacle is largely moot, given the success of open-road tolling. Some are hoping that under Trump’s plan, the second barrier will come down, too.
If the president, as promised, seeks to expand private investment in major new infrastructure projects, then tolls to pay for those projects may be inevitable.
But the fear here is that revenue-hungry lawmakers in Massachusetts will seek an opening to toll every existing highway and country lane to fund their wildest spending dreams.
If Trump ever does manage to get an infrastructure bill through Congress it must guard against a toll-funded cash grab.